The Spanish Period
In the year 1785, my grandfather Mr. Jones who was a teenager was on his way from his father’s farm when he heard of rumors circulating stating that their country is invaded by Spaniards and it was a requirement that they should comply with them to receive better treatment from them as it was believed that they were very brutal, he was narrating to me that these Spanish came to Arizona as traders through the pacific ocean and they were in search of gold and also to broaden their empire, the harsh treatment of the Spaniards to the natives contributed to the rivalry and war between the Spaniards and the natives who were the Apaches (Studentoffortune, 2010).
The rivalry between the natives and the Spaniards sparked mixed reactions on the natives to the extent of them demanding independence from the Spaniards and with the help of the Mexican they fought for independence that lasted a decade, they won the war where the Mexican was in charge in the running of the state.
The Mexican Period
The Mexican faced a lot of challenges in running the state as most of the infrastructure had been destroyed during the war; this made it difficult for them resulting in the selling of land and other important farms produce that would enable them to run the state.
During this period the natives loosed trust in the Mexicans and the natives started to relate with the Europeans, the natives threatened the Mexicans that they will attack them, they started to invade and attack them, this led to the Mexicans being bankrupt, and for them to maintain power they partitioned the place into
states that acted independent from the other, this was a strategy that helped them maintain power, this was a poor strategy as it exposed the community to constant raids and counterattacks and the forces could not intervene as they were unable to contain the rebellious activities (Kris, 2009).
The increase of the population of the Americans in contributed to the collapse of the Mexican dynasty as the annexation period that was experienced in Texas resulted to the Mexican-American war that later transformed into Mexican cession were united states concurred the region as a result of the gold rush that was being experienced in California, the gold in California is said to be the main reason that brought Americans into Arizona (State of Arizona Library, 2010).
U.S. Controlled Period
After the increasing number of the Americans in the region led to the collapse of the Mexican leadership and dominance in the area, with the introduction of the American leadership it made the locals to be more civilized as this initiated to the demand of their own state as the Mexican had introduced the state into the federal system of governance.
The Territorial Period
This is the period that the state was fighting for its rights in order for it to be recognized as a state, the period lasted a long time starting from 1863 till 1912, 50 years was a very long time for a state to struggle for its independent.
The state received its recognition as the 48th state in the United States of America, their was a case that was doubting the size and the location of the state were a conference Territory of Arizona was set and the and later replaced by a union that was created in 1863 as the two unions were given the power to rule the country but they couldn’t be able to rule in the state, they practiced their rule in exile (Wagoner, 1970).
The progressives movement was the movement that took place between 1890-1920, it was geared towards creating new reforms in American politics were they aimed at reducing cases of corruption in the politics ,social life, modernization, democracy and constitution change (United States Congress, 2006).
During this period changes experienced in the political arena as follows:
- The women were given the right to vote and to vie for public offices.
- It resulted to the introduction of income tax.
- The direct election of the senators.
- Exposure of all corrupt deals to the public Muckrakers these journalists exposed all the odds in the society.
- It also resulted to the implementation of new economy policies.
Ballot initiatives
This is a process were the state refers to the voters as people who are in charge of determining there leaders in the legislature it commonly refers to the method of amending the constitution of the state through the use of the peoples interventions.
Recall of judges
In Arizona judges were not elected but they selected by a system called Merit Selection, the residents of the state never felt that this way of selecting the judges was good as it contributed to cases of corruption were the judges would bribe the members of the board in order for them to be selected as the judges.
The residents of the state aloes didn’t want the issue of recall in of judges as they saw that as a way the president of the state used his constitutional powers to benefit his friends.
The braches of the Arizona government
The Legislative
The Legislative is a Branch of government and it has two houses, the Senate (upper house) and House of Representatives (lower house) which make laws that govern the states and the country.
The Senate
The Senate comprises of elected members ,they are known as Senators who are few in number compared to the House of Representatives, the members serve longer terms in office and this enables them to perform their duties accordingly as the members are in-charged of larger constituencies.
Powers of the senate
- The senate confirms treaties and checks and balances the powers of the president.
- The senate confirms the appointment of military officers, Cabinet secretaries, federal uniformed /executive officers and federal judges.
- The senate conducts trials to federal officials that are impeached by the House.
The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives also known as the lower house, comprises of elected members from the districts in each state in America, each member once elected serves a term of two years after which an election is conducted , they are relatively less powerful than the senators.
Powers of the House of representative
- The House passes federal legislations that if implemented affects the entire country.
- The house also power to initiate revenue bills.
- The house has power to impeach errant officials.
- The house has the power to elects the President in cases of an Electoral College deadlock.
The Executive Branch
The Executive Branch comprises of the President as the head, with the Vice president and the cabinet members.
Powers of the Executive Branch
- They make laws official
- They provide enforce and administer the federal laws on a daily basis.
The Judicial Branch
The judicial branch has also three branches comprising of the Arizona district courts, Arizona courts of appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court of the United States, the district courts are courts that conduct trials to the offenders, the courts of appeal are set in specific areas in the country to provide pleas of unsatisfied hearing conducted by the district courts and the supreme court is the overall in the judicial system.
Powers of the Judicial Branch
- The judiciary provides justice to the America citizen.
- It maintains law and order in the society.
- It helps in solving disputes amongst the members of the America society such as cases of divorce or political petitions.
Procedures for amending the Arizona Constitution
There are three processes of amending the constitution of Arizona according to article 21 of the states constitution, they include the following.
- Initiated constitutional amendments it is an amendment of the state’s constitution, and in Arizona it is conducted when a petition has been filed in court and supported by 15% of all the registered voters.
- Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments it’s a law that is passed on to the voters to vote for it because the legislatures in the state voted in favor of it proposing for its adaptation as a law in the state.
- Constitutional convention this is a process that is conducted after the elected delegates from the entire country convene and propose the revision or amending the constitution as the convention has to come from all elected members of the United States.
Analysis on the amendment process for the Arizona Constitution
In order for the amendment of Arizona state constitution to be adopted, the elected members would monitor the issue taking into consideration if the proposed law doesn’t go against the American constitution, the law should also address the long term solution of an existing problem, the law must also be credible as it would be able to uphold the dignity of the state (Muncy, 1998). The process of the amendment of the laws in Arizona State is assumed to be very fair; this is because before any given proposed law is made a law it is highly evaluated before it is made to become a law that will be used in governing the state.
The amendment process doesn’t give the people the much power, as they are not the once who carry out the whole process from its beginning to its completion, the legislature conduct these evaluations from research and complaints raised by the area residents and the elected legislatures will either pass the bill or not in the parliament this is according to their interest on the particular bill.
I don’t think that, prospective law framers of the law will support the introduction of a new process of amending the states laws; this is because the process of amending a bill a section of the state participates in the process and that category is the elected members of the state, the process can not be left in the hands of the people as each person has got different needs and wants as this would result to conflicts as each person would want to practice his own laws.
References
- Kris, A. (2009). United States and Arizona Government.
- Muncy, R. (1998). Women in the Progressive Era.
- State of Arizona Library. (2010). The Road To Statehood.
- Studentoffortune. (2010). Arizona Statehood and Constitution.
- United States Congress. (2006). New statehood bill. Hearings before the subcommittee of the Committee on Territories Nov. 12-24, 1902 on House bill 12543. Washington: Government Print
- Wagoner, J. (1970). Arizona Territory 1863-1912: A Political History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press